It has long been suggested that subjects diagnosed with cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) have an excess rate of subsequent neoplasms.

To provide further quantitative information on the issue, we have considered 1,780 histologically confirmed CMM diagnosed between 1974 and 1994 by the Cancer Registries of the French-speaking Swiss Cantons of Vaud and Neuchâtel (760,000 inhabitants) and followed up to the end of 1994 for the occurrence of a second primary.